Free Rise the Renegade (Rork Sollix Book 1) by George Donnelly Page A

Rork, a hunk of dirty cloth in his hand. He pulled the opening apart. Dust cascaded out of it and hung in a stagnant sunbeam that managed to peak through the haze.
    “What about my trial? What are the charges? This is crazy! A man deserves a trial! To deny a man his rights is barbaric!” Rork jumped up and down and the wood gave way behind his feet. He fell backwards, his eyes wide and shoulders flexing in an instinctive attempt to balance himself with his now bound arms.
    The guard grabbed Rork’s shoulder and steadied him. An expression of bored irritation on his face, the mustached man held the eyeless hood open over the top of Rork’s head.
    “Wait!” Jelara climbed the steps to Rork’s right, a small but well-fed boy running ahead of him.
    Rork looked at the guard with the hood. “Really? A kid, too?”
    The guard ignored him and looked at Jelara.
    The boy reached Rork. He stood in front of the condemned man and touched his belly wound. He looked at his finger, then at Jelara. “Blood!”
    Jelara knelt down next to the boy and smiled. “No matter, this one will be dead soon.”
    “Will you kill him, Father?”
    “You bring your kid to watch executions? What the hell is wrong with you people!” Rork yelled.
    Jelara stood up and slammed the palm of his hand into Rork’s lower jaw. He grabbed the helpless hero’s neck and squeezed, his disgusted scowl boring into Rork’s soul.
    Rork squirmed. “Hey!”
    “This one is a pirate, son. He steals from traders, miners and settlers, taking food from the mouths of children like you. He will murder your father and rape your sister if it suits him. He is scum.” Jelara looked down at his son without releasing Rork. “Someday, God willing, you will have the chance to capture and punish bad men, too.” He looked up and nodded at the other guard.
    “I haven’t raped or murdered anyone!” I only kill in self-defense.
    Jelara released him, then punched him in the nose.
    Rork groaned.
    The boy looked up at Rork, then his father. He squinted at Rork. “I understand, Father. What about religion? Does he receive some mercy or prayer before...?”
    “No.” Jelara grabbed his son’s finely chiseled hand in his fat fingers and pulled him off the platform. At the bottom of the steps, he turned and nodded up at somewhere Rork couldn’t see.
    The steps on the other side of the platform creaked. Rork turned. Zero stood there, head bowed. “I seek to minister to the condemned man.”
    Behind Rork, the guards mumbled.
    Zero nodded and proceeded to Rork’s side.
    “Faith.” Zero shook his head, his eyes a reproach, as if to a child. “That is what you lack, pirate. With faith comes patience. And now look at what you have wrought.” Zero rubbed his thumb into Rork’s forehead, then his heart. He muttered incomprehensible sounds.
    Beads of sweat rolled down Rork’s face. He wanted to brush them away but all he could do was twitch and blink his eyes. “You can do something. They respect you.”
    “Respect? What do you know of it?” Zero started to chant.
    “It’s not true, what they say about me.”
    “Why did you attempt to enter the children’s cell?” Zero asked between chants.
    A guard tapped Zero on the shoulder. Zero raised his arms, palms facing out and chanted more loudly.
    “I’m trying to escape! I can’t leave the children behind. There are two children in there who came in with me.”
    “Devi and Anju, the siblings?” Zero waved his open palms over and in front of Rork’s body.
    The guard appeared next to Zero and grabbed his shoulder. “That’s enough, old man.”
    “Will you take the children?” Zero asked.
    The guard with the hood appeared next to Rork and held it over his head.
    “Of course!” Rork’s pulse accelerated. His heart beat in his throat.
    The guard pulled on Zero and Zero fell a step away from Rook.
    “Will you carry me to all the settlements, stations and mining operations so that I might preach?” Zero stopped